BUILDING GUILFORD IN COLLABORATION

BY ROB WHITNELL

[Being Provost] means letting all the people of Guilford do their great work and my role is to support them as best I can.

Whether it’s the first year or — as in my case — the 27th year of your association with Guilford, there has been no year like 2020. And you know much more about what Guilford College looks like right now in December than I can foresee as I write this note in September.

Kyle Dell

A little background: On July 21, I agreed to be the Interim Provost for this year, with my colleagues Kyle Dell (Interim Academic Dean) and Vance Ricks ’92 (Interim Associate Academic Dean) accepting their new roles.

Vance Ricks '92

Since Guilford has not always had a Provost, it’s worth a moment to note what I’m responsible for as the lead of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs: anything having to do with classes, faculty, the library, academic support services, the registrar, residence education and housing, student life and engagement, student health and counseling, and even more. In reality, it means letting all the people of Guilford do their great work and my role is to support them as best I can.

Within 24 hours of accepting the position, I was interviewing candidates for Interim President, and by the end of the following week, we were starting our work with Carol Moore. From there, Kyle, Vance and I joined Kathryn Shields, Associate Academic Dean, in the Provost’s office to figure out what to do next. I write now from a point of uncertainty, crisis, concern — maybe even a little hope — and a general knowledge that we may lose somethings that we care deeply about.

By now, many of you will have told me what I got wrong, maybe some things that were acceptable and possibly one or two things that were fine. And that’s exactly what I expect. I chose this role, as I have chosen many at Guilford, because people I respect convinced me I had something to contribute. While I appreciate that confidence, I am not unique. I am continually amazed by the ways my colleagues care for Guilford.

As I tell my students this year, none of us asked for this and none of us deserved it. I hope that as December me reads this, I find that we did as well as we possibly could under dire circumstances. And if we have, then we’ll be ready to take the next steps to build Guilford back to where it belongs.